The workshop. The rapid progress in science & technology, the integration and full automation of techniques and procedures has lead young scientists into perceiving, Structural Biology (SB) as a black box. The main goal of the workshop is to put the seeding for creating a pool of well-educated scientists in the structural biology field, able to resolve the dilemmas and make correct and mature choices when faced with research challenges thus building rewarding careers in the academia or the industry. Tutorials will focus on the basic principles of classical and modern (hybrid) methods in SB as implemented in large-scale facilities with the aim to enable young scientists develop decision-making skills. In addition, by increasing researchers’ awareness on the facilities and services provided across Europe will further promote innovative research. Real problem solving and interactive presentations will bring a special dynamic to the workshop and will develop both teamwork and integration of resources in terms of methods, facilities and man-power.

The workshop targets mainly PhD students and postdoctoral researchers who are currently working in the structural biology field and have already some experience in working with macromolecules. Experienced researchers will also be considered but priority will be given to younger scientists. A total of 20 participants will be accepted in the workshop. The applicants will be expected to send a CV (max. 2 pages), a motivation letter (max. 1 page) explaining why they wish to participate and what they expect from the course and a reference letter. The selection process to ensure that equivalent criteria will be applied.

Benefits

Participants that have been accepted to the course are offered to send protein samples for characterization and crystallization to the Sample Preparation and Characterization (SPC) facility at the EMBL in Hamburg. The samples must be relatively pure (>90 % according to SDS-PAGE). The SPC will offer a preliminary sparse matrix screen that can be customized to the particular sample, as well as complementary characterization by thermal shift assay, dynamic light scattering and mass spectrometry. For more information, please visit the SPC website: https://htx.embl-hamburg.de/htxlab/

Participants are also offered to bring their own protein (around 60 μl or even less around 10 μl at exceptional cases) and set up their a “Random” Microseeding experiment using the Douglas Instruments protein crystallization robot installed at NHRF under the guidance of the manufacturers (http://www.douglas.co.uk). They should also bring along crystals if any available, to make the seed stock screens. If the condition that the protein crystallizes is known, it is also recommended that participants bring their crystallization buffer as well.

Host

The event will be hosted by NHRF, coordinator of Instruct-EL, a national distributed research infrastructure that functions as a hub for structural biology in South East European area and Cyprus as part of the broader national RI.

Registration fees: €100 for academic participants and €600 for participants coming from industry.